<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
The Surah has been so designated after the word <em>ash-shams</em> with which it
opens.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
The subject matter and the style show that this Surah too was revealed
in the earliest period at Makkah at a stage when opposition to the
Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) had grown very strong and
intense.
</p>
<h2>Theme and Subject Matter</h2>
<p>
Its theme is to distinguish the good from the evil and to warn the
people, who were refusing to understand this distinction and insisting
on following the evil way, of the evil end. 
</p>
<p>
In view of the subject
matter this Surah consists of two parts. The first part consists of vv.
1-10, and the second of vv. 11-15. The first part deals with three
things: (1) That just as the sun and the moon, the day and the night,
the earth and the sky, are different from each other and contradictory
in their effects and results, so are the good and the evil different
front each other and contradictory in their effects and results; they
are neither alike in their outward appearance nor can they be alike in
their results.(2) That Allah after giving the human self powers of the
body, sense and mind has not left it uninformed in the world, but has
instilled into his unconscious by means of a natural inspiration the
distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, and the sense of
the good to be good and of the evil to be evil.(3) That the future of
man depends on how by using the powers of discrimination, will and
judgment that Allah has endowed him with, he develops the good and
suppresses the evil tendencies of the self. If he develops the good
inclination and frees his self of the evil inclinations, he will
attain to eternal success, and if, on the contrary, he suppresses the
good and promotes the evil, he will meet with disappointment and
failure. 
</p>
<p>
In the second part citing the historical precedent of the
people of Thamud the significance of Apostleship has been brought out.
A Messenger is raised in the world, because the inspirational
knowledge of good and evil that Allah has placed in human nature, is
by itself not enough for the guidance of man, but on account of his
failure to understand it fully man has been proposing wrong criteria
and theories of good and evil and thus going astray. That is why Allah
sent down clear and definite Revelation to the Prophets (peace be upon
them) to augment man's natural inspiration so that they may expound to
the people as to what is good and what is evil. Likewise, the Prophet
Salih (peace be upon him) was sent to the people of Thamud, but the
people overwhelmed by the evil of their self, had become so rebellious
that they rejected him. And when he presented before them the miracle
of the she camel, as demanded by themselves, the most wretched one of
them, in spite of his warning, hamstrung it, in accordance with the
will and desire of the people. Consequently, the entire tribe was
overtaken by a disaster. 
</p>
<p>
While narrating this story of the Thamud
nowhere in the Surah has it been said "O people of Quraish, if you
rejected your Prophet, Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and
blessings), as the Thamud had rejected theirs, you too would meet with
the same fate as they met."The conditions at that time in Makkah were
similar to those that had been created by the wicked among the people
of Thamud against the Prophet Salih (peace be upon him). Therefore,
the narration of this story in those conditions was by itself enough
to suggest to the people of Makkah how precisely this historical
precedent applied to them.
</p>

